Business & Tech

Dreams Diverted for Young Workforce

Local residents discuss struggles finding work in their field.

Jaime-Lynn Joyce wants to be a teacher.

But finding a job in her desired profession could be quite a challenge for the 2009 graduate of who is currently in her junior year at James Madison University in Virginia.

Currently majoring in elementary education, Joyce said has been told on multiple occasions to switch her major because of the shortage of teaching jobs on Long Island.

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“The jobs are so sparse,” Joyce said at Patchogue's dessert shop, one of three part-time jobs she is working for the summer.

The job market across Long Island is being flooded with teachers that have been victims of layoffs this spring as school districts have cut back on teaching jobs because of budget cuts and declines in student enrollment.

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“One of my friends has been working at a school and was there for a year but was offered less pay and a lower job the second year so she left,” said Joyce, a 19-year-old Patchogue resident. “It doesn’t matter if you're tenured. If school districts don’t have the money you're going to get cut."

At the recently opened Canzacity Roadhouse restaurant in Patchogue, 21-year-old Sara Frank of Medford is licensed to work in skin care, but is finding more opportunity as a waitress.

“There are no jobs currently in the field I’m looking in,” said Frank.

She moved from Pennsylvania looking for positions in her chosen field, but despite 200 hours of clinical experience the only job offer she has received to date in the world of skin care was for $8 an hour. With licensing she has from the Vonle School of Aesthetics, Frank said she expected to find employment that paid a great deal more.

Working at Canzacity, Frank said she has been able to pick up the equivalent of full-time hours when working at two of the company’s local restaurants, and over time she will also be able to have access to company benefits.

However, waiting tables is a far cry from Frank's passion. She is facing the reality of having to make the difficult choice between sacrificing to start a career and the current day needs to have a higher level of income and access to benefits such as health insurance.

“A lot of my friends went to study what they love," Frank said, "and they are now unable to find a job in their desired field."


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